Author: Meredith Berkheiser

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(9/4/2025_Meredith B) Playtest: Sushi GO!

  1. Was it fun?
    • Pretty enjoyable, it was simple and easy to understand, plus it was more of a luck based game rather than 100% skill, so the randomness made it fun.
  2. What were the player interactions?
    • Yep, it was at 1st confusion but it was more or less just the counting of cards, since the game is so luck based.
  3. How long did it take to learn?
    • About 5ish minutes, it was quicker than expected. The hardest part to learn was that stacking and point mechanic, but the cards showed you what to do so it worked out.
  4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • Nothing was honestly frosting, except for the chopsticks card, cause if you have one left it’s worth nothing, so on the last hand there is a chance you don’t get any extra points.
  5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played?
    • It was very cute, the premise was simple to follow and the artwork was very cute, which made it aesthetically pleasing to play.
  6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t?
    • Not really, except I wanted the wasabi card to be worth more then x3 or nothing.
  7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be?
    • Add a point value towards the chopstick and wasabi cards, just so they don’t become useless cards.
  8. Is this a game you would play again? Yes _____ No ______ Why
    • I would, it is a very easy game to pick up and play for a little, without dedicating hours towards learning a game. Almost anyone (except for kids under 5) can play and enjoy the game, so it makes Sushi Go! A very family friendly game, hence allowing it to be brought to more events and shared, which makes me more likely to play it.
  9. Analyze the game using the 3 act structure.
    • (Act 1: Start) This section was learning the rules/ point scoring for the game. It took maybe 5 minutes to learn the premise of the game, however we kept referencing the rules for the 1st few rounds until we 100% understood the rules. This section also included dealing the cards, so overall the start was the shortest section, maybe 30 seconds of play) (Act 2: Middle) Main part of the game, this is where we would actually play the game. This part was fun since it was the actual game where we were passing around cards and playing. (Act 3: Ending) This is where we would count points and totals. It went fairly smoothly as the point system was easy to understand, plus the cards had the values written on them. The longest part of this section was tallying up final points and comparing/adding them to previous rounds to determine a winner.
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Week 1-Game Design Questions_Meredith B

  1. In your opinion what should every game have? Why do you like your favorite game?
    • Every game needs a good premise with a replayability aspect. No matter how fun the game is, if I cannot play it multiple times and face the same amount of enjoyment, I will not play it anymore/actively. Currently Phasmophobia (https://store.steampowered.com/app/739630/Phasmophobia ←Heres the steam link, also on playstation). I enjoy it as a horror game, and the mechanics of the game allows for infinite replayability. It is essentially a ghost hunting game, where you find the ghost, or it finds you. There is 7 parts of evidence, over 20 ghosts and 10 maps,challenge and custom gamemodes, and each round is never the same. There is also a level and prestige system, so it encourages players to keep going, even if they have “beat” the game. (The game was released in 2020/2021, and still active and being played, we had 2 updated maps and a huge game change released a few months ago, so it is still a popular/updated game).
  2. List the games you’ve played and currently play.
    • Mobile:
      Good Pizza/Great Pizza
      Block Blast
      Plato
      The Way Home
      Super Phantom Cat 1 and 2
    • PC:
      Phasmophobia (Favorite Game ATM)
      Valorant
      Genshin Impact
      Keep Talking and Nobody Explodes
      Content Warning
      Lethal Company
      Slime Rancher 1 and 2
      Minecraft
      Roblox
    • Nintendo:
      Mario Kart
      Animal Crossing: New Horizons
      AK-Axolotl
    • Tabletop/Other
      Uno
      Cards Against Humanity
      Old Maid
      Tag
      Spoons
  3. Can you apply the three act structure to your favorite game? What is it’s pacing and how long do you find yourself in each act?
    • The 3 act structure does not fully apply to my favorite game, since sections of the act can be avoided. The 3 act would be beginning (finding/locating the ghost), middle (getting evidence) and end, (ghost “hunts” and deciding on what the ghost is). However there are moments in the game where you walk in and immediately know what the ghost is due to an ability, or you walk in and immediately die (That’s an achievement actually). So there’s always a chance to avoid the 3 act structure within the game. In general, the 1st act, of finding the ghost, takes the longest due to the need of exploring the map. The 3rd act, specifically the hunting part, doesn’t really happen if you play the game correctly and are smart with your resources.
  4. When coming up with ideas where do you find you start, with the metaphor or the mechanic?
    • The mechanic, it’s harder to come up with the way to play the game rather than the visuals for me. I would rather have the premise and design of the game fully developed before focusing on visuals, as visuals are easier to test and change rather than set game mechanics.
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(8/28/25_Meredith B) Game Test: Fluxx

Play: Fluxx

  1. Was it fun? Kinda? Some parts were annoying to learn, and the game overall wasn’t too bad, mostly just a big thing of confusion.
  2. What were the player interactions? Yes, but lots of it was just explaining rules/cards and the confusion behind it
  3. How long did it take to learn? About 5 minutes to fully understand. However since the rules kept changing due to the gameplay mechanic, the game is always changed, hence constant learning.
  4. What was the most frustrating moment or aspect of what you just played? The constant changing of rules made the game mostly confusing due to the exceptions and changes being made all of the time. Almost every turn changes the rules, making the game change constantly, which I personally don’t find fun.
  5. What was your favorite moment or aspect of what you just played? Nothing in particular honestly, due to the nature of the game it personally felt very mundane the whole time.
  6. Was there anything you wanted to do that you couldn’t? Honestly I would want to keep the rules the same, the changing of goals is cool, but the rules changes are confusing.
  7. If you had a magic wand to wave, and you could change, add, or remove anything from the experience, what would it be? Remove the rules cards, as much as they impact the game, I would make it so you pick the rules, but it can’t constantly change. It would still allow for the weird rules as an option, but would make it a little more understandable.
  8. Is this a game you would play again? Not really, it’s not engaging and a little too confusing for me, especially for the constant rule changing for me to find enjoyable.
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Light Projection- Meredith Berkheiser

For my project, I decided to project a simple axoltol animation onto my wall. Designing the axolol was the easy part, as adobe after effects was diffultcult to learn at 1st. Overall, whike it is a simple project I think it looks cool for the purpose of an experiment.